Prison officials stop at nothing to separate lovers in PAC

On Monday, Prince generally outlined the unsettling discrimination he faces as a gay male in prison. In this letter, he shares some specific incidents involving the mistreatment of himself and a lover by not only inmates, but also prison officials.

Warning:The following letter conveys a personal account of verbal abuse, and has not been edited in any way. Proceed with caution if you may be triggered by this topic or the use of profanity and derogatory slurs.

“A Story… About Me Inside Prisons,”by Prince.

Me and my lover – her name is Chi-Chi, but I call her Chica – we were in Marcy Correctional Facility together. At first, everything was fine. We were in the same dorm and doing everything together. Then, all the inmates in our dorm started talking shit to us cause we will sit in each other’s cubes and hold hands, talk, and just hang out. So, someone went to the C.O. and told him we were having sex in the bathroom. So, they separated us and put me in another dorm.

Now we see each other all day at Rec, chow, and we will meet up in the Law Library. Then the C.O. started making comments about us together all the time, calling us homosexual faggots. One night, while we was in the general library, me and Chica was looking for books to read. The librarian started yelling at us, calling us cock-sucking faggots, bitches and all types of gay slurs. She told us she don’t want us in her fucking library no more. So, we wrote grievance on this and by us writing a grievance on the situation, the C.O. in that facility started fucking with us hard on an everyday basis. Then, they sent me to the box for a bullshit ass ticket, and moved me out the jail just to separate us.

So, now we have to deal with writing each other through her mom. But, I just wanted to show you the discrimination we as a gay community go through while in prison. I hope you use this in the PAC project.

The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence.

This blog, which features letters from our Prisoner Advisory Committee (PAC) members, is just one way we overcome the enormous state-created barriers to communication and political participation for the people who are most affected by the prison system.